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Slave pc or extended library vsl

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shivamaatra

New Member
Okay this on could be in daw or here. I choose this one. Hope the mod aggrees.

Thanks for reading my post!
In a few months i have a new butget to spend on my music equipment. I own at the moment orchestral strings 1/2 full (vsl).
And the epic horns basic. And komplete 7 (so you know i have some percussion also.)

I am thinking between two option and was wondering what you would do and why.

I will have a butged of about 2000,- euro. A little more possible.

I can buy an new (second/slave) pc for 700,- plus ensemble pro 5 and woodwinds 1/2 basic and brass 1/2 basic. Not extended.
This will give me two pc's power to run full library without any need for bouncing/render in place. (Convert from midi to audio) right?

Second option is.
No new pc or ensemble pro but the extended versions of woodwinds 1/2 and brass 1/2.
If i wanted to do this i would have to use my current pc only which cant do full library i think.
Win7 64b Quad core i72600 3,4. 16gb 1300mhz ram. Normal hd. No ssd. Cubase 7.5. So i will have to render in place allot and freeze tracks to keep the system running without allot of pops and clicks.

I will use cubase reverb for now which i think is fine.

:).
Click to read more...
 
I personally tend to the cheap slave computers for the single reason that I load them up and forget about them. I don't change their setup, they're just there like an instrument creating those sounds I set up in there.

And if I realize I come to an end with those, I buy another cheap slave and load that one up.

I know lots of people who do it this way and lots of people who do everything in one machine. There are good arguments for both.

Best, Hans!
 
Hello Shivamaatra...
I am in a similar position like you and do it in a single quad I7-2600 (3.0) computer with Vienna Ensemble loaded in that computer to load my templates. And it works. You might need more RAM perhaps if you want to load a lot of articulations. And a 500gig SSD which is about 140$ now will soothe your nerves when loading your template :)
 
wonshu said:
I personally tend to the cheap slave computers for the single reason that I load them up and forget about them. I don't change their setup, they're just there like an instrument creating those sounds I set up in there.
!
Click to expand...

Thnx hans for your reply!

Im sorry but im not sure wat you mean by this discription of your way of working. Could you explaing what you mean? Do you load an entire vsl library on a singe machine without any problems and if yes. What kind of beast is doing so without any dropouts? Or de you think my system would be able to. Maybe im doing something wrong with my system then ;). Im talking about the cube. Not dimension stuff etc because this is way more heavy stuff i believe.

It would be nice to have the whole orchestra with al its articulations ready and loaded so song creation is easy. Are you doing this on one machine? Is my way of thinking wrong and are there people that think it is exaggerated to have the lib ready for use?

Love to hear other peoples ways!
 
Th
Sid Francis said:
Hello Shivamaatra...
I am in a similar position like you and do it in a single quad I7-2600 (3.0) computer with Vienna Ensemble loaded in that computer to load my templates. And it works. You might need more RAM perhaps if you want to load a lot of articulations. And a 500gig SSD which is about 140$ now will soothe your nerves when loading your template :)
Click to expand...


Thnx for your reply.

My main board can accept 32 gb. But my windos 7 has a 16 gb limit. So that would also mean changing OS. Thanks for letting me know.

Do you load al the articulation BTW? Without trouble?
 
I do not mind the loading time btw if it is only once. If it would require to load the full templatr with the full lib as discribed above. And it would take say 20 minutes without ssd then so be it. Of then i have the full lib without any dropouts i would already be happy.
 
shivamaatra said:
Im sorry but im not sure wat you mean by this discription of your way of working. Could you explaing what you mean? Do you load an entire vsl library on a singe machine without any problems and if yes. What kind of beast is doing so without any dropouts?
Click to expand...

I have three i7 computers as slaves with 24 GB RAM in two of them and 16GB in one of them.

What I mean is: As I get a new machine I load instruments (Kontakt / VSL / Omnisphere) I need a lot into it and play a reasonable amount of voices until the machine chokes. Then I stop and leave the machine the way it is and add the respective Vienna Ensemble instances into my template in the host DAW. Create all the MIDI instruments and all transformers (I'm working Logic) for the keyswitches they way I'm used to (I have a seperate small keyboard just for keyswitches that are sort of consistent). So this machine is now "hardwired" to play only those instruments I set up. I turn it on in the morning and turn it off at night. I don't have to touch it or think about it at all. The sounds are just there in my DAW.

I probably made this even more confusing now... ;-)

Best,
Hans
 
No
wonshu said:
I have three i7 computers as slaves with 24 GB RAM in two of them and 16GB in one of them.

What I mean is: As I get a new machine I load instruments (Kontakt / VSL / Omnisphere) I need a lot into it and play a reasonable amount of voices until the machine chokes. Then I stop and leave the machine the way it is and add the respective Vienna Ensemble instances into my template in the host DAW. Create all the MIDI instruments and all transformers (I'm working Logic) for the keyswitches they way I'm used to (I have a seperate small keyboard just for keyswitches that are sort of consistent). So this machine is now "hardwired" to play only those instruments I set up. I turn it on in the morning and turn it off at night. I don't have to touch it or think about it at all. The sounds are just there in my DAW.

I probably made this even more confusing now... ;)

Best,
Hans
Click to expand...

No haha this makes sence haha. The way you system is makes me for now tend towards option 2. Buying the smaller libs and a new extra pc. Because apparantly your single pc won't load it all. And even 3 are not sufficient maybe. But i want vsl so no more then 2 pcs in my total budget for now.
 
For me it had to do with convenience. I didn't want to bog down my main workstation using the Vienna Ensemble server locally (a pretty old Mac Pro with 8 cores) or having to deal with loading times.

It really all depends on what you want and what your main machine can handle.

I know people with 8-Core i7 systems with 128GB of RAM and only SSDs... sure those machines and workflows will kick my setup in the butt. But those where a lot more expensive in one go. I built mine up over the years and it worked for me.
 
I don't know ... I have a hard time imagining that you really need a slave PC for Orchestral Strings, Epic Horns and some Kontakt stuff thrown in. I'm running a VSL template with close to 100 instances of VI Pro and several Kontakt libraries on a single machine. All from SSDs and with more RAM, that is. But still. I don't know how big your template really is and what you plan to be using in there, but with the current information, a slave setup kind of seems overkill.
 
What he said. And you should clearly state your existing specs to get accurate advice.

Surely you should start trying SSDs before buying new machines...
 
Jimmy Hellfire said:
I don't know ... I have a hard time imagining that you really need a slave PC for Orchestral Strings, Epic Horns and some Kontakt stuff thrown in. I'm running a VSL template with close to 100 instances of VI Pro and several Kontakt libraries on a single machine. All from SSDs and with more RAM, that is. But still. I don't know how big your template really is and what you plan to be using in there, but with the current information, a slave setup kind of seems overkill.
Click to expand...
Thnx for your reply.

I do have to add that i want to use brass 1/2 and woodwinds 1/2 of vsl also. In the case of not upgrading to two pc's it would be the extended versions of both inside the template.

I will not exceed 100 intances but what kind of system do you have then.

The only difference with ssd to normal hd is the loading time in the beginning right? Once laded you get the same results?
 
Im
mc_deli said:
What he said. And you should clearly state your existing specs to get accurate advice.

Surely you should start trying SSDs before buying new machines...
Click to expand...

Im not at home to give full specs but what i know is.

Quad core i7 2600 3,4 16 gb 1300 mhz. 500gb 7200rpm western digital black and blue.

If i would upgrade i would have to buy 3 things. New memory 32 gb. Ssd 500 gb. Windows 7 ultimate. (Because of mem limitations of current version)

New pc with vep 5.0 would be arround 1000,-

Above upgrade i donno ;).

Not speaking in any way against any advise given. Just telling the facts as i know them. :).
 
wonshu said:
For me it had to do with convenience. I didn't want to bog down my main workstation using the Vienna Ensemble server locally (a pretty old Mac Pro with 8 cores) or having to deal with loading times.

It really all depends on what you want and what your main machine can handle.

I know people with 8-Core i7 systems with 128GB of RAM and only SSDs... sure those machines and workflows will kick my setup in the butt. But those where a lot more expensive in one go. I built mine up over the years and it worked for me.
Click to expand...


Haha now i know what you ment by cheap slave pc. Haha.
 
shivamaatra said:
Thnx for your reply.

I do have to add that i want to use brass 1/2 and woodwinds 1/2 of vsl also. In the case of not upgrading to two pc's it would be the extended versions of both inside the template.

I will not exceed 100 intances but what kind of system do you have then.

The only difference with ssd to normal hd is the loading time in the beginning right? Once laded you get the same results?
Click to expand...

Im using a quite modest system actually. It's an i7 3820 CPU with currently only 32GB RAM and a Saffire PRO24 Audio Interface, running on Windows 7 Ultimate. And SSDs for samples. It's not only about the loading speed when opening projects. The sample streaming performance with an SSD is superior to HDD, which again makes bigger preload sizes possible, so that less samples have to be constantly loaded into the RAM. So having more RAM is always good, but having more RAM and streaming from an SSD is even better. Vienna Instruments Pro can be reconfigured to take advantage of this.

On this system, I have the Appassionata Strings loaded, Woodwinds 1 Standard, Epic Horns and Fanfare Trumpets full, some single download instruments, also the Special Editions 1+2 included the PLUS volumes ... and several Kontakt libraries like Spitfire Albion or Heavyocity Damage, and a bunch of other ones for choirs, percussion, several solo instruments etc.

If I really push the voice count to some ridiculous number by copypasting a non-stop up and down playing MIDI track to 100 instruments simultaneously, I'm gonna get cracks, pops and dropouts, sure. But in practice, I never have 100 VIs or more play 16th notes all at the same time relentlessly, so I don't really run into any problems. :) One can get very far with a single-machine setup nowadays, the question is what makes more sense to you financially at the moment - upgrading the PC or buying a second one + VE Pro.
 
Buying a Samsung 850 Evo 1tb SSD was one of the best investments I have ever made. The thing Flies. I tested Native Instruments Abbey Roads 70s Drums AR Full on an External USB3 7200rpm HDD and it took nearly 2 mins to load the Kit. With the SSD (and with R.A.P.I.D Mode enabled) in took 9 seconds! Get an an SSD regardless of what you decide on doing (building Slaves etc). :)
 
shivamaatra said:
.

If i would upgrade i would have to buy 3 things. New memory 32 gb. Ssd 500 gb. Windows 7 ultimate. (Because of mem limitations of current version)

New pc with vep 5.0 would be arround 1000,-

Above upgrade i donno ;).

Not speaking in any way against any advise given. Just telling the facts as i know them. :).
Click to expand...

I think you have to buy at least one SSD no matter what so your numbers don't add up. I also second the above. My 1tb 850 evo is, so far, my best investment and the cornerstone of my set up.

Edit: did I really write "rig"? Sorry about that:(
 
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Okay thnx guys. So allot of you basicly say with some upgrade of my current system i could do already more then i think.

I think i will buy brass 1/2 and woodwinds 1/2 basic and build a big template including omnisphere and my other vsl stuff. If this will not disappoint me i will upgrade my current system and add the extended versions of brass and woodwinds (to my collection and my testing template) Giving me orchestral strings brass and woodwinds full. Using kontakt as percussion and omnisphere for extra stuff.

If i run to quickly into trouble (pops snd clicks) ill buy vep 5.0 and a new 700,- pc instead of the extended stuff.



It will take several months before i will buy anything but i will share my choice and experience with it when i will take action.
 
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